Thursday, January 30, 2014

United Way and Education

“Research shows that one of the best investments we can make in a child’s life is high-quality early education.”

We hope you heard this powerful statement that President Barack Obama made during his State of the Union address.

At United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, we know the power of preschool, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Through our Success by 6® program, we’re improving the quality of early childhood education centers, training teachers and parents to be more effective in nurturing children’s development, and ultimately preparing thousands of children for academic success. And in case you didn’t see the news last week, we are a founding partner of Pre-K for PA, a statewide advocacy campaign aimed at ensuring all 3- and 4-year-olds have access to quality early education (you will be hearing much more from us on this over the next few months).

As you can see, quality early childhood education is a critical part of our Impact agenda. But we also recognize that early learning is just the beginning of a child’s cradle to career educational journey.

As students transition from learning to read to “reading to learn,” we must ensure students can read at grade level by third grade, an early indicator of a student’s future academic success. As they make their way through middle school and enter their teenage years, helping students stay on track to high school graduation becomes critical. Along the way, we must also provide exposure to higher education and the workplace — as well as the support to get there — so that young adults complete their secondary education successfully, college- and career-ready.

Education investments pay dividends for all of us in the long run in the form of saved special education costs, lower crime rates, increased earnings and taxes paid. And as our children today become productive members of the region’s workforce tomorrow, they will reinvest back into our communities.

Click here to learn more about our work to improve education for our region’s children.